The Guardian
The Great Barrier Reef from the sky – in pictures
Photographer Joshua Smith’s latest project, The Reef, is an aerial exploration of his experience with Queensland’s Great Barrier Reef. Smith’s hope is to raise awareness of Australia’s connection with the reef and the impact humans have on it. The series is the the fifth instalment of Down Under from Above, a captivating film and aerial photo series sharing unique perspectives of Australian landscape while highlighting the importance of preservation
Continue reading...Carillion links put fracking firm’s scheme in doubt
A controversial plan to start fracking for shale gas in rural North Yorkshire has been thrown into doubt amid mounting concerns over the finances and management of the company behind the scheme.
In a move that has encouraged anti-fracking protestors, energy secretary Greg Clark has ordered the start of drilling at Kirby Misperton to be put on hold pending an investigation into the “financial resilience” of Third Energy.
Continue reading...Report warns of dire future for Coral Triangle reef fish
Popular species like grouper and wrasse could be gone from dining tables in decades as trade drives wild populations to the brink of collapse.
The US$1 billion a year Live Reef Fish for Food Trade (LRFFT) is threatening the future of key reef predator species like grouper, coral trout and Napoleon wrasse, according to a recent study.
The study - published by WWF, the Swire Institute of Marine Sciences at the University of Hong Kong (HKU) and ADM Capital Foundation - urges swift action towards regulating an industry that’s decimating stocks of these species across the Coral Triangle, threatening poor communities that rely on the fishery for their livelihoods.
Continue reading...First images of creatures from Antarctic depths revealed
Photographs of rare species from unexplored area of Antarctic seabed highlight need to protect life in one of the most remote places on the planet
The images below are the first of creatures found in a previously unexplored region of the Antarctic seabed offering a fascinating glimpse of life in one of the most remote and pristine places on the planet.
Continue reading...Country diary: finely dressed gadwall has an air of austere decency
Airedale, West Yorkshire: Neck held straight, upright and officer-like, the drake appears dressed in close-fitted tweeds, a fine houndstooth of tan and grey
I don’t know a bird book that has much to say about the gadwall (Anas strepera). Generally this unobtrusive winter duck is compared with the more common mallard, and comes off worse: smaller (just), duller (much), either shriller (the duck) or coarser (the drake) in quack. But like many a winter bird – think of the intricate copper-trimmed scalloping of a starling’s non-breeding plumage – the gadwall repays a little close attention.
Continue reading...Federal penalties against polluters at lowest level in a decade under Trump
Figures released by the EPA show that 115 crime cases were opened in 2017, down from a peak of nearly 400 in 2009
The Environmental Protection Agency’s enforcement activity against polluters has fallen to its lowest level in a decade, with the first year of the Trump administration seeing a sharp drop in fines for companies that break environmental rules.
Figures released by the EPA show that 115 environmental crime cases were opened in the 2017 financial year, down from a peak of nearly 400 in the 2009 financial year, which was largely under the Obama administration.
Continue reading...Lack of migrant workers left food rotting in UK fields last year, data reveals
Exclusive: Brexit fears and falling pound left fruit and vegetable farms short of more than 4,000 workers, with senior MPs warning of a ‘crisis’
Fruit and vegetable farms across the UK were left short of thousands of migrant workers in 2017, leaving some produce to rot in the fields and farmers suffering big losses.
Continue reading...Ozone layer, farm antibiotics and mutant crayfish – green news roundup
The week’s top environment news stories and green events. If you are not already receiving this roundup, sign up here to get the briefing delivered to your inbox
Continue reading...The week in wildlife – in pictures
Galápagos marine iguanas, feeding penguins and a camouflaged owl are among this week’s pick of images from the natural world
Continue reading...War on the wildest places: US bill may open pristine lands to development
Wilderness study areas are more wild and untouched than national parks. But a Republican proposal threatens this unique terrain, environmentalists say
The Big Snowy Mountains wilderness study area in Montana represents 91,000 acres of the wildest land left in America. Viewed from a limestone bluff high in a timbered gulch, no houses are visible. No transmission lines or roads interrupting the expanse of green. No smoke curling up from cabin stovepipes.
Continue reading...The bird market of Kabul – in pictures
A visit to the narrow lane of Ka Faroshi bird market brings comfort to war-weary Afghans
Continue reading...Revealed: Trudeau government welcomed oil lobby help for US pipeline push
Canadian government viewed Trump’s election as “positive news” for Keystone XL and energy industry
The Trudeau government treated Donald Trump’s election as “positive news” for Canada’s energy industry and welcomed the help of Canada’s main corporate oil group in lobbying the US administration, documents show.
Meetings conducted by senior government officials with TransCanada and the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP) reveal an one-sided approach more reminiscent of former Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s secret oil advocacy than Justin Trudeau’s green electoral promises.
Continue reading...International Garden Photographer of the Year – in pictures
The International Garden Photographer of the Year is one of the world’s premier competitions specialising in botanical photography. There are 11 main categories and numerous special awards including Young Garden Photographer of the Year, and the mobile-only category Gardens on the Go. It is run in association with the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, where the winning pictures will be exhibited, followed by a rolling programme of touring exhibitions in the UK and abroad
Continue reading...Country diary: rare encounter with a Dartford warbler
Sinah Common, Hayling Island, Hampshire: Despite years of dedicated gorse-scanning this was the first time I’d seen one of these secretive little birds on my patch
The gorse thicket was ablaze with flower, but the heady coconut-suncream scent of the golden blossom was at odds with the biting wind and overcast sky. As a shower began to fall like a haze of iron filings, I decided to take shelter behind one of the well-preserved anti-aircraft gun emplacements – a relic from the second world war, when decoy fires were set on Hayling Island to draw the Luftwaffe away from the important military targets on nearby Portsea Island.
As I hunkered down against the concrete wall, I noticed a small, dark-coloured bird flitting through the furze like a restless sprite. I followed at a discreet distance as it crept through the low branches, gleaning insects from the needle-like leaves with quick, jerky movements. At first glance I thought it was a wren, but as I raised my binoculars it turned and cocked a disproportionately long, slender tail – not the short, stubby appendage I was expecting to see. I realised that I was looking at a Dartford warbler, Sylvia undata.
While the species has recovered from the 1960s population crash, continuing to increase in numbers and expand its range in recent years, Dartford warblers are largely sedentary birds. They breed exclusively on lowland heath and rarely travel far from their natal habitat. When food is scarce they will range more widely and can occasionally be spotted in coastal scrub during the winter months, but despite years of dedicated gorse-scanning this was the first time I’d encountered one on my local patch.
I wasn’t content with this fleeting glimpse, but “Darties” are secretive, skulking birds. My fingers reddened with cold as I waited in the hope that this one would emerge from the dense, dark undergrowth. As the rain eased off, my patience was finally rewarded. The bird – a male – perched up on the crown of a bush and I was able to admire his slate-grey upper parts, ruddy breast and vermilion eye-rings.
The instant he caught sight of me, the feathers on his domed-shaped head began to rise in the suggestion of a crest. Tail wagging, he scolded me with a harsh nasal “dzurr”, before vanishing back into cover.
Job cuts loom at scandal-hit chicken supplier 2 Sisters
Poultry group which sold out-of-date meat to supermarkets may close three factories
Nine hundred jobs are under threat at three poultry plants belonging to 2 Sisters Food Group, the UK’s largest supplier of supermarket chicken, which has been dogged by a controversy over food standards.
The potential closure of two of the firm’s West Midlands factories in Smethwick and Wolverhampton, plus a third in Cambuslang in South Lanarkshire, follow a nightmare year for the company, which has included the closing of a further site in Smethwick as well as a Guardian and ITV undercover investigation that prompted production to be suspended for five weeks last autumn at the group’s West Bromwich plant.
Australia’s east coast home to 5,500 great white sharks
CSIRO researchers use world-first genetic analysis to estimate population, but believe numbers could be as high as 12,800
About 5,500 great white sharks are cruising in the waters off Australia’s east coast, new research has revealed.
For the first time, the CSIRO has been able to put a number on the size of the white shark population using world-first genetic analysis.
It estimates there are about 750 adults living in waters east of Victoria’s southern coast, up to central Queensland and across to New Zealand.
Taking juvenile sharks into account, researchers believe the total east coast population sits at 5,460 – but could be as high as 12,800.
Related: Shark attacks in Australia: how common are they really?
Continue reading...Climate change is increasing flood risks in Europe | John Abraham
A new study finds strong agreement that flood risks in central and western Europe are rising due to global warming.
As humans continue to emit greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide, the world continues to warm. We see that warming everywhere – in the atmosphere, in the oceans, with rising sea levels, and melting ice. But while we know conclusively that humans are causing the warming, an equally important question is, “so what?” Really, we want to know the consequences of warming so that we can make informed decisions about what to do about it. We really have only three choices: mitigate, adapt, or ignore and suffer the consequences.
A very new study was just published that helps answer this question of “so what?” The research was conducted by lead author Lorenzo Alfieri (European Commission – Joint Research Centre, Italy), Richard Betts (University of Exeter and Met Office, UK), and their colleagues.
Continue reading...Country diary: a peacock butterfly wakes into living room summer
Sandy, Bedfordshire: It should have been hibernating, but there it was, bashing its head against a cold window. Something had to be done
It is a curious fact that the most beautiful parts of a butterfly are also the least palatable. When I lifted a log from the woodpile, the eye of a peacock in an insect wing beneath looked back. It was a sail without a ship, a cover without a book. The wing was still fired with fresh colours, as lustrous as a birthday balloon and just as nutritious. The thick body that had been provisioned with sweetness to sit out the winter in darkness had gone.
The day before, another peacock, inadvertently transported indoors in the log basket, was hours away from cremation when it woke into living room summer. I did not see it fly up to the sunlit window but heard a loud thrumming from behind the blind. There it was, improbably animated out of season, bashing its head incessantly against a cold window. How could it understand that the golden orb beyond was a false god, offering only frost and ice?
Continue reading...Huge levels of antibiotic use in US farming revealed
Concerns raised over weakened regulations on imports in potential post-Brexit trade deals
Livestock raised for food in the US are dosed with five times as much antibiotic medicine as farm animals in the UK, new data has shown, raising questions about rules on meat imports under post-Brexit trade deals.
The difference in rates of dosage rises to at least nine times as much in the case of cattle raised for beef, and may be as high as 16 times the rate of dosage per cow in the UK. There is currently a ban on imports of American beef throughout Europe, owing mainly to the free use of growth hormones in the US.
Continue reading...Fake nests fight real threat of extinction for the shy albatross – video
Tasmanian scientists are trialling a new tactic to help the shy albatross fight extinction: constructing artificial nests. Over one hundred specially built mudbrick and aerated concrete artificial nests were airlifted on to Bass Strait’s Albatross Island in July 2017 as a trial program. So far the results are looking promising with the breeding success of pairs on artificial nests 20% higher than those on natural nests. Conservationists hope the nests will boost the population of the threatened seabird, which is vulnerable to climate change.
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